A week after Harvard University's landmark decision to eliminate its early admissions program in the fall of 2007, Princeton University announced Monday that it will follow suit in abandoning early admission. Although both Harvard and Princeton made their announcements in the hope that other institutions will follow their lead, Dartmouth does not plan to alter its early decision program in the near future.
"Every time we've [reviewed our admissions policies] in the recent past, we've come to the conclusion that early decision works well for Dartmouth and its students," Dean of Admissions Karl Furstenberg said. "There's no immediate need to change."
Although Furstenberg believes that Princeton's decision may put more pressure on other schools to make a change, he maintains that early admissions programs continue to offer certain benefits.
"The important thing is we're really monitoring this very closely," Furstenberg said.
Despite Harvard's efforts to expand financial aid and increase openness in admissions in recent years, Harvard officials, who announced the decision on Sept. 12, argued that the early admissions program was an obstacle to low-income and working-class students.
"Students from more sophisticated backgrounds and affluent high schools often apply early to increase their chances of admission, while minority students and students from rural areas, other countries, and high schools with fewer resources miss out," Harvard Interim President Derek Bok said.
Binding early decision programs like Dartmouth's put students who need financial aid at a disadvantage, preventing them from comparing aid packages for multiple schools, he said.
Harvard offers a non-binding early action program that allows students to make a final decision in May of their senior year and compare financial aid packages from different schools. However, William Fitzsimmons, Harvard's dean of admissions, believes that this program still contributes to the inequalities and pressures of college admissions, citing the difficulty that some have distinguishing between early action and binding early decision programs.
"Thus students from less advantaged backgrounds either fail to take advantage of early admission because they are less well-advised overall, or they consciously avoid our program on the mistaken assumption that they will be unable to compare financial aid packages," Fitzsimmons said.
Furstenberg, however, said that early admissions programs are not as clear a barrier to low-income students as Harvard claims.
The biggest obstacles to disadvantaged students, Furstenberg said, are inherent to the U.S. educational system.
"This change by Harvard and Princeton does not eliminate those underlying disadvantages," Furstenberg said. "It's not adjusting your admissions plans and deadlines as much as the conviction you bring to the selection process."
Since Harvard and Princeton announced their decision, The Dartmouth has requested the breakdowns of minority applicants in the College's early admission pool as opposed to the regular applicant pool. These numbers, however, have not been made available.
While Furstenberg admits that disparities in the quality of college counseling in high schools across the country cause the early admission pool to be less diverse than the regular pool, he said that Dartmouth has worked to provide outreach programs to give students from low-income and minority backgrounds the opportunity to learn about the admissions process.
"We have worked hard to diversify the early decision pool with some success in recent years," Furstenberg said. "At the same time, the overall racial and socio-economic diversity of the entering class has increased in recent years."
According to Furstenberg, Dartmouth admits approximately 35 percent of its class early, as opposed to about 50 percent admitted early by Harvard and Princeton. In judiciously managing its early applicant pool, Furstenberg said Dartmouth ensures that incoming classes will represent many backgrounds.
In addition, Furstenberg believes that Harvard's claim regarding the disadvantages of early admissions with regards to financial aid packages is lacking when it comes to schools in the Ivy League, pointing out that Dartmouth offers need-blind admissions and extremely attractive financial aid awards to early applicants.
"If for some reason our aid award is not adequate for a student, we are very willing to adjust awards," Furstenberg said.
Of the 398 students admitted from the early decision pool to Dartmouth's Class of 2010, Furstenberg said that only one student ultimately chose not to matriculate for financial reasons.
"I don't see evidence in our experience that indicates that the financial aid has been inadequate or has locked people into an undesirable financial aid situation," Furstenberg said.
Based on such evidence, Furstenberg said that the early admissions programs of well-endowed institutions like those in the Ivy League pose minimal drawbacks to lower income or minority applicants.
Whether or not low-income or minority students apply early or regular decision is less important, Furstenberg said, than the ultimate enrollment of a diverse class.
In trying to illustrate another benefit of Harvard's recent decision, Jeremy Knowles, interim dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard, pointed out the negative effects of the frenzy surrounding college admissions and of early admission programs in particular.
"These programs distort the high school experience by forcing both students and colleges to commit prematurely, based only upon the record at the end of the student's junior year," Knowles said.
Both Harvard and Princeton have claimed that through giving up early admissions they will have more time to recruit students in the fall of their senior year.
However, Furstenberg maintains that Dartmouth's early admissions program has distinct benefits and said he is not convinced that more recruitment is the answer.
"Dartmouth is highly attractive and a first choice for many students," Furstenberg said. "Those students can simplify the process for themselves by having the option to apply to the College early decision."
Furstenberg said that the admissions environment will undoubtedly change as a result of this decision, with significant increases in the regular decision applicant pools of these schools.
Without any early admission, Furstenberg speculates that students may face more pressure and uncertainty about realistic college choices, leading them to submit more applications.
"I think the bigger concern is that ... we're all going to be under much more time pressure to sort through more applications in limited time because the regular pool would get larger," Furstenberg said.
Finally, Furstenberg responded to claims that students who gain early admission often disengage from their academic experience during the second semester of their senior year. He said he sees no evidence that this is a serious issue among the high-performing students admitted to schools like Princeton, Harvard or Dartmouth.
